1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus and more particularly to an image forming apparatus which possesses a stationary upper unit and a pivotable lower unit disposed thereunder as opposed thereto.
2. Related Art of the Invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,844 discloses an electrophotographic copying maching which possesses a stationary lower unit and a pivotable upper unit disposed thereon as opposed thereto. The idea of a construction capable of being divided into an upper unit and a lower unit with a paper transport path as the boundary in the copying machine mentioned above has been known in the art.
In the copying machine, the upper unit can be pivoted as disclosed in the U.S. patent specification. There are image forming apparatuses such as a reader printer which are constructed so that the upper unit cannot be easily pivoted. In the case of the reader printer, generally a screen is disposed in the upper part of the apparatus and an image forming mechanism in the lower part thereof. When the image forming mechanism is given a construction divisible into an upper unit and a lower unit with a paper transport path as the boundary, the lower unit is desired to be pivoted downwardly because the upper unit is provided thereon with the screen.
FIG. 1 illustrates an image forming apparatus 2 which is so constructed as to be divided into a lower unit 3 and an upper unit 4. When the lower unit 3 is adapted to be pivoted downwardly as illustrated in the diagram, the leading end part 1a of a paper discharge tray 1 disposed in the lower unit 3 falls below the basal end part 1b thereof and consequently the upper surface of the paper discharge tray 1 is inclined downwardly by an angle of 74 relative to the horizontal plane H. As the result, papers discharged onto the paper discharge tray 1 are suffered to slip down.
FIG. 2 illustrates a reader printer produced by Canon Inc. and marketed under product code of "PC-80". It uses a paper discharge pocket P in the place of a paper discharge tray. The lower unit 3 is adapted so as to be downwardly pivoted independently of the paper discharge pocket P. The adoption of the paper discharge pocket P, however, entails a disadvantage that papers received in the paper discharge pocket P are liable to bend and are not accommodated therein so neatly as when they are received in th paper discharge tray.